NTPC stake sale commences on bourses; scrip falls 2 per cent

New Delhi: Shares of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) slid as much as two per cent on the BSE in the early trade on Thursday as the government's 9.5 per cent stake sale of country's largest power producer commenced on the bourses. The floor or the minimum offer price for state-run power utility NTPC's share sale has been set at Rs 145 apiece, which is a 4.5 per cent discount to its Wednesday's close.

On the BSE, NTPC scrip hit a low of Rs 149.10, down 2.10 per cent over previous close, soon after the start of market hours. It continued to trade in the range of Rs 149-150.80 in the early hours. The scrip has slid nearly 4 per cent since Tuesday, when the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) decided on the floor price of the stake auction.

At the floor price of Rs 145, NTPC stake sale could garner over Rs 11,300 crore to the exchequer, making it the biggest disinvestment so far this fiscal. The government proposes to sell 78.32 crore shares or 9.5 per cent stake in the country's largest power producer through offer for sale (OFS) route.

The floor or the minimum offer price for state-run power utility NTPC's share sale has been set at Rs 145 apiece.

Till 0949 hours, bids came in for over 1.16 crore shares, at the indicative price, which is the weighted average price of all vaild bids, of Rs 147.49 apiece, as per data available on the National Stock Exchange.

Shares of NTPC were quoting at Rs 149.90, down 1.58 per cent on the BSE. Government holds 84.50 per cent stake in NTPC. After stake sale, its holding will come down to 75 per cent.

Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Equities, Kotak Securities and SBI Cap Securities are acting as the merchant bankers for the stake sale. Disinvestment Secretary Ravi Mathur had earlier said the government would be able to raise around Rs 12,000 crore from the NTPC stake sale.

So far this fiscal the government has already raised over Rs 10,000 crore through stake sale in PSUs like Oil India, NMDC and HCL.